We absolutely love this book! It’s easy to navigate and search through, and is up-to-date info on thousands of pet-friendly hotels! Also, every year they have a fun photo contest to see which pup will land the cover. Quincey was a finalist and his photo is featured in it!

This awesome crate not only comes in a variety of fun colors, but it folds flat for easy storage and travel. This is great for keeping your dogs safe and secure while alone in a hotel room so you can sneak out for a quick dinner.

Please visit our Travel Section to learn more about traveling with your dog, and some of our favorite places to visit with them.

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One of my favorite times of the day is enjoying a nice morning speed-walk with the pups. Here’s a great gift for those who love walking their dogs as much as I do!

Golden Gift Suggestion #8: Nike + for the iPod, iPod Nano & iPhone

This amazing gadget syncs with your iPod (3Gs or later), iPhone, or Nano – and tracks the distance, speed and calories burned during your workout. I love ending a good power walk with a little voice saying “You have burned 429 calories” – makes me feel even better! Your workouts are then uploaded and synched with your Nike+ account, tracking all of the miles and workouts you have done. I’m proud to say that since I purchased the Nike+ this summer, the dogs and I have walked 297 miles together!

We love our walks!

I have the iPod Nano because I unfortunately I don’t have the iPhone. However, I really like it because it’s super tiny with a clip that can hook right onto my yoga pants, and the battery lasts for weeks! I didn’t purchase the special Nike shoes for the sensor because I love my New Balances.. but for less than $5 I bought this silicone sensor pouch on Amazon.com that straps right onto my shoe laces and it works perfectly!

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Let’s be honest, dog parents need to be spoiled, too. On Day 6 – here’s a great gift suggestion for animal lovers that will be sure to please!

Golden Gift Suggestion #6: ONEHOPE Wine

ONEHOPE’s award-winning portfolio is produced by world-renown winemaker Rob Mondavi Jr, and HALF of the profits are donated to a good cause. We love that online shoppers can see how much of their purchase is going to charity, and that they also can choose a charity of their choice to receive an additional donation. Animal lovers can choose the ASPCA to receive 10% of the purchase – all at www.onehopewine.com!

$15.00 goes to the ONEHOPE Foundation, and $12.00 goes to the ASPCA if you pick it!

I love that I can support the ASPCA and other fabulous charities by simply enjoying a bottle of wine – we love ONEHOPE Wine! So does Quincey 🙂 – his favorite is the Zinfandel because it supports the troops, and his dad is a Veteran!

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Just when we thought we couldn’t be more obsessed with our dogs.. we got custom portraits of them done 🙂 But I have to say – they are SO COOL!

How great are these? Now – I have to share with you all the artist who did these. His name is Lain, and I discovered his shop ScottieInspired on Etsy. I was so impressed with his talent, how affordable these were, and how quickly he did them! It was awesome – Lain just emailed me the digital file already formatted for canvas, so I just sent these to print at Costco. Saved SO much money in shipping costs (Lain lives in Scottland!), and we can save the files to print on other things if we choose.

Here is Roxy’s painting (with the photo I sent Lain) – love it!!

If you’re considering a pet portrait – seriously look no further than Lain. His work is impeccable – and between his incredible artwork and ordering from my local Costco, the pups’ portraits costed less than $200! Can’t beat that.

Riley’s absolute favorite toy is a tennis ball. He’ll play fetch for hours on end! His favorite trick is to slide down the hallway tile to catch it. Since Riley is an Arizona pup, he also LOVES to swim. So, you can just imagine how much fun he has when he gets to play with his favorite toy (the tennis ball) in his favorite place (the pool!). He really likes to blow bubbles under the water. Riley has gotten so good at the tennis ball that his dad, Brian, recently introduced him to the frisbee. Riley can catch the frisbee mid-air just about every time! Riley, you sure are a talented pooch – that’s tricky to do!

I love this shot of Riley as a little puppy. Don’t you wish they could stay this little forever?

Katie’s parents actually got a puppy (a boy named Keegan) from the same litter that Riley came from. I love that – such a fun way for a pup to grow up with a sibling. However, these pups don’t see eye to eye when it comes to college athletics. Riley is a die hard Wildcat fan, and loves to root for the University of Arizona. After all, Riley’s parents are UofA Alumni. (Sidenote: Katie is my Chi-O sister!). On the other hand, Keegan is an Oregon Ducks fan and roots for the U of O. Come football and basketball games, both dogs sport their favorite teams’ bandana. Who will be the champ this season? Sorry Keegan, but I’m with Riley – BEARDOWN ARIZONA! 🙂

Katie & Brian, thank you for sharing your photos and all of the fun facts about Riley. What a beautiful family you all make together! I look forward to keeping in touch over our love for all things golden.

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Today when Roxy did her morning routine of jumping into bed to say hello, we noticed her dog tag had fallen off her collar. Rather than going to the pet store to get another one, I thought I’d do a little shopping on Etsy to see what else was out there.. and I’m SO happy I did. I stumbled across the fun shop BowWowzerZ – HILARIOUS dog tags. Such a fun way to express your pets personality. Here are some of my favorites:

We got Quincey this one:And Roxy this one (with her name on the front):

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These toys are hysterical!! A ball for your pups to chase with a silly mustache on the other end – I’m definitely going to get a couple for the pups.. stay tuned for funny pics in the upcoming weeks. These Humunga toys can be ordered here for $14.99 – it got great reviews!

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I love tying a bandana around the pups’ neck when throwing a parties or celebrating a holiday. They are an inexpensive and fun way to “accessorize” your Golden, and ours love to wear them! They look and feel so dapper 🙂 It’s also fun putting them on for sporting events. Roxy and Quincey always have red and blue bandanas on hand (to root for our Arizona Wildcats and Penn State Nittany Lions of course!) .

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I think it’s safe to say that every greeting card aisle has at least one Golden Retriever card – nothing brings a smile to your face like a Golden! Here are the Valentine’s Brad and I exchanged this year.. no surprise here!

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Okay, how funny are these? We’ve all seen TIGI’s Bed Head products – and now they have Pet Head! Of course Brad and I had to buy it for the dogs. They have hilarious product names like “Life’s An Itch, Fears for Tears, and Feeling Flaky.” We tried the “So Spoiled” conditioner – and it actually works great! It really made the pups coat soft – and it smells really good, too. You’ve got to check out their website for some really funny dog photos. Genius idea!